WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc. late last month quietly settled a lawsuit with Charles Dascal, an ex-Miami dispatch operator who claimed Nextel Vice Chairman Morgan O'Brien stole his idea for a nationwide wireless system when O'Brien represented him as a communications lawyer in the 1970s and...
Speculation continues that AT&T Corp. will unveil plans to issue a separate tracking stock to trace its wireless business, which has grown significantly since the carrier introduced its successful Digital One Rate plan.The tracking stock, according to published reports, also would include fixed wireless...
Vodafone AirTouch plc Friday launched a hostile takeover bid for Mannesmann AG after the German company flatly rejected an earlier all-stock bid of about $106 billion."We made a friendly approach to Mannesmann last Sunday," said Chris Gent, Vodafone AirTouch's chief executive officer. "That proposal...
Sprint Corp. is in deep negotiations with owners of Mexican wireless operator Pegaso PCS to gain a stake in the carrier, sources close to the companies say.An ownership agreement would give Sprint, which agreed to merge with MCI WorldCom Inc. last month, its first...
In a deal loud with industry-shaking repercussions, the nation's top two paging carriers announced their intention to merge last week, raising the consolidation bar to a level as yet unseen in industry's history.Arch Communications Group Inc., the second-largest paging carrier, emerged as the victor...
WASHINGTON-With the tidal wave of telecommunications mergers occurring, regulators must ensure that whatever conditions they impose on companies to protect consumers are done right the first time."It is not really practical to go back later. You do the best you can ... we have...
STAMFORD, Conn.-AT&T Corp. jumped from fifth to second place in Corporate Branding L.L.C.'s latest annual ranking of telecommunications companies, the firm said. Motorola Inc. retained the study's top spot, while GTE Corp. was bumped from second to third."Acquisitions and other aggressive moves by CEO...
NEW YORK-For strategic and financial investors, many domestic wireless carriers possess a strong desirability quotient because they own scarce spectrum in a huge and growing market.Lehman Brothers Inc. projects that wireless penetration in the United States will reach 50 percent by 2002 and 70...
WASHINGTON-While lawmakers and industry executives debated the proposed $130 billion merger between MCI WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp.-the largest transaction in history-Senate Judiciary Committee Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced legislation last week to relax regulatory and financial requirements for smaller mergers.The MCI WorldCom-Sprint deal, largely...
NEW YORK-The irony inherent in the proliferation of communications devices and technologies is the difficulty of getting them to interact with home base.Therein lies a business opportunity for MobileSys Inc., a Mountain View, Calif., start-up that provides middleware. Its mission is to serve as...
During the last five weeks, merger and acquisition announcements have flooded the telecommunications arena. Carriers in Asia, Europe and North America continue to jockey for positions in an industry that promises to exclude players without multinational footprints.Telia/TelenorThe merger of Telia of Sweden and Telenor...
NEW YORK-France Telecom last week proceeded toward its goal of becoming a pan-European provider of seamless mobile, wireline and Internet communications through an agreement to acquire controlling interest in E-Plus, Germany's third-largest wireless carrier.After the E-Plus acquisition, France Telecom will have about 17 million...
BellSouth Corp. last week announced plans to restructure the company to better position itself to provide bundled services.The move comes just weeks after BellSouth failed in a bid to acquire Sprint Corp., which agreed instead to merge with MCI WorldCom Inc.Jeff Battcher, a spokesman...
NEW YORK-US Unwired Inc., a Sprint PCS affiliate headquartered in Lake Charles, La., plans to tap the public debt markets for $200 million in 10-year notes, Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Oct. 12.The New York-based rating agency assigned a speculative grade rating of Caa1...
WASHINGTON-The merger train rolled through the Federal Communications Commission last week as the FCC reacted to a number of telecommunications industry-changing mergers.The FCC does not officially review mergers but has to review the transfer of licenses, considered to be a key part of any...
Dear Bernie,Congratulations on your promotion into the wireless industry. While I admired your foray into wireless with MCI WorldCom's acquisition of SkyTel, I admit I was surprised at your company's coup in picking up Sprint's PCS licenses.You obviously are a savvy businessman with a...
MCI WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp. last week agreed to a definitive merger agreement that will combine the second- and third-largest U.S. long-distance carriers and give MCI WorldCom a much-needed nationwide wireless presence.According to the agreement, each share of Sprint will be exchanged for...
Got a scandal? You a friend of Gore? Who ya gonna call? Stan Brand, of course. Stan the Man is the go-to guy for Dems in decline. Brand helped Tennessee developer Franklin Haney escape unscathed from the FCC-Portals probe. Now Brand is trying to...
Speculation circulated last week that MCI WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp. were in merger talks, following published reports that linked the two companies.Neither company would comment on the reports.Meanwhile, MCI WorldCom closed on its acquisition of SkyTel Friday.Both MCI WorldCom and Sprint long have...
NEW YORK-Illuminet Holdings Inc., which calls itself the largest unaffiliated Signaling System 7 network provider in the country, plans an initial public offering of 3.9 million shares priced between $14.50 and $16.50 each.Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, New York, is lead underwriter for the proposed...
NEW ORLEANS-The bankruptcies of certain C-block and mobile satellite companies, coupled with mutual fund outflows, rising interest rates and other macro-economic trends, have aligned like planets in a bad omen for wireless companies that cannot get financing before Halloween.This year, there remains a window...
When the clocks roll over at midnight on 31 December, the world will usher in not only a new century, but a new paradigm in the way people communicate.What took decades to build in developed countries-a telecommunications infrastructure-will take a matter of months or...
NEW YORK-The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce is engaged in a monumental juggling act with significant implications for levies on telecommunications in general, judging by comments at its two-day hearing last week.Charged by Congress with recommending whether and how Internet transactions should be taxed,...
About the time PCS licenses were first up for grabs, industry prognosticators predicted that four or five mega-carriers would one day rule the U.S. wireless industry.Are we there yet?As Bell Atlantic admits it is talking with Vodafone AirTouch plc about a link-up between their...
